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Lisp at TWENEX.ORG Tutorial
Lisp is a programming language famous for its use in Artificial Intelligence and advanced Computer Science research. First developed in 1958, it is the second oldest (after Fortran) high-level programming language still in common use.
Two dialects of Lisp are available at TWENEX.ORG, Maclisp and InterLisp-10.
Maclisp
(@MACLISP)
Maclisp was developed in the mid-1960's as part of MIT's Project MAC1), originally for the PDP-6 ITS operating system.
Maclisp was a highly influential language and was the primary inspiration for Common Lisp, with contributions form other dialects like InterLisp.
Set-up
Before running MACLISP, you must define the following logical name:
@DEFINE MACLISP: PS:<MACLISP>
(You can add the above line to your LOGIN.CMD file to automatically define the logical name for all of you TWENEX sessions.)
It is also recommended that you create a Maclisp init file (LISP.INI) in your home directory with the following contents:
;;; A very typical init file / Emacs mode--> -*- Mode:LISP; -*- (COMMENT) ;magic (PROGN ; real init file stuff (SETQ BASE 10. IBASE 10. *NOPRINT NIL) ;base-10 display (SETQ NOUUO T *RSET T) ;these make debugging easier (SSTATUS FEATURE NOLDMSG) ;supress module load messages '*) ;return an asterisk for Maclisp to print out
LEDIT
LEDIT is a software package that allows a programmer to inspect, modify, and save Lisp source expressions from within a Maclisp session, abilities Maclisp itself lacks. This is achieved by calling the Emacs editor from the programmer's Maclisp session.
To use LEDIT:
- Start Maclisp and load your source file.
- Evaluate
(LOAD “LISP:LEDIT.FASL”)(You may add this line to your LISP.INI file and eliminate this step.) - Evaluate
(LEDIT)to switch to Emacs. - Load the source file into Emacs (
^X ^F). - View, change, save source with Emacs commands.
- Flag function definitions to update in Maclisp with
M-Z. - Return to Maclisp with
^X Z.
InterLisp-10
(@LISP)
InterLisp was developed in 1967 at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) for TENEX, BBN's in-house PDP-10 operating system. Development was later transfered to XEROX PARC. The language became popular with Stanford University AI researchers and at other principly US West-Coast institutions.
InterLisp was noted for its integration of interactive development tools into the the programming environment: debugger, Lisp-structure-aware editor, spelling corrector, file manager.
The dialect was in a rivalry with Maclisp prior to the development of Common Lisp.
Set-up
If you have set-up your TWENEX session for Maclisp (see above), you must undefine the logical name LISP: and set @DEFINE INTERLISP PS:<INTERLISP> before running InterLisp.
References
